Every year, the Ignition Community Conference (ICC) brings automation professionals, system integrators, software developers, and manufacturers together to share ideas, learn from one another, and get a firsthand look into what’s next for the Ignition platform. DMC has been attending ICC since 2019 to exchange ideas with industry experts, and this year was no exception.
This year, a team consisting of Brandon Tanner, David Berno, Nikhil Holay, John Williams, John Sullivan, and me traveled to Sacramento on behalf of DMC. Over the three-day conference, we attended technical sessions, participated in community discussions, presented to our peers, and explored the road ahead for SCADA and industrial software development.
A Look at the Ignition 2027 Roadmap
The conference kicked off on September 22nd with solution showcases, table talks, and networking opportunities, but the biggest moment came during the technical keynote. Inductive Automation unveiled an extensive roadmap for Ignition 2027, introducing new features that have the potential to significantly change how industrial applications are built and maintained.
There were a few feature announcements that particularly excited us this year, largely because they enhance our ability to deliver advanced Ignition projects that seamlessly aggregate data from multiple sources and streamline our DevOps workflows. Those features include:
- Catalyst
- Beckhoff ADS Driver
- AWS Connector Module
- Enhanced partial import/export functionality for improved DevOps workflows
In particular, Catalyst stood out as one of this year’s most impactful announcements. Ignition has always enabled users to build powerful applications, but Catalyst has the potential to reduce development and accelerate implementation timelines. As a result, teams may be able to focus more on solving business problems and less on repetitive development tasks.
Technical Conversations That Matter
One of the most valuable aspects of ICC every year is the opportunity to learn directly from members of the Ignition community. While the keynote announcement was exciting, many of the event’s best discussions happened in smaller settings where conferencegoers met to exchange ideas and lessons learned from real-world projects.
Table Talks
My favorite part of the conference was the table talks, where focused groups discussed technical topics more in depth. DMC hosted two table talks this year:
- DevOps and workflow synchronization
- Ignition deployment methods
The conversations highlighted a growing industry focus on software development best practices within industrial automation projects. As SCADA systems become larger and more sophisticated, concepts such as version control, testing environments, deployment pipelines, and workflow management are becoming increasingly important to long-term project success.
Panel Discussions & Presentations
Beyond attending sessions, DMC also contributed to the technical conversation over the two days through presentations and panel discussions. On the first day of the conference, I participated in a CSIA panel focused on strategies for avoiding million-dollar mistakes in SCADA projects. The discussion highlighted common challenges customers face during large automation initiatives and explored techniques to improve project outcomes.
Topics covered system design considerations, project planning strategies, and approaches to project management that help reduce risk and avoid costly errors.
On September 23rd, the second day of the conference, Nikhil Holay presented alongside Beckhoff, demonstrating how Ignition and Beckhoff technologies can support modern DevOps workflows for industrial automation systems. The sessions emphasized the importance of establishing streamlined workflows across development, QA, and production environments to create more maintainable systems. As automation projects continue to become more complex, organizations will increasingly look for ways to support more reliable testing and validation.
The Future of SCADA Development and Final Takeaways from ICC 2026
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from ICC 2026 was the rapid evolution of SCADA’s role within modern manufacturing.
Ignition’s evolving ecosystem is increasingly focused on helping businesses collect information from across their operations, centralize that data, and provide the context needed to drive improvements.
The announcements surrounding Ignition 2027 suggest that industrial automation is entering a new phase. With tools like Catalyst designed to reduce the effort required to implement features, success will depend less on writing code and more on developing solutions that deliver measurable value.
For DMC, ICC 2026 reinforced the importance of staying connected to the community and the technology. We’re excited to bring these insights back to our client work and help customers take advantage of the innovations transforming manufacturing.
Have an upcoming project? DMC can help you take the next step.
Modernize SCADA, MES, or an industrial automation system. DMC’s Ignition experts can help you design, implement, and scale solutions that deliver actionable data.